CZECH REPUBLIC BLOCKS REFUGEES FROM ITALY AND GREECE – Refuses to accept refugees

The Czech government will stop accepting refugees under the EU relocation scheme for asylum seekers and refugees from Greece and Italy, as the country has expressed that has security concerns. The EU Refugee Agreement 2015 provided for the gradual relocation to all EU countries of those who entered the EU from Greece and Italy.

However, several EU Member States, including the Czech Republic, protested the decision and some refused to accept refugees.

Last month, the Czech Republic took only 12 refugees out of the 2,691 immigrants determined by its quota, according to the CTK news agency.

“We will not accept any refugee before September,” Interior Minister Milan Hovanec said. “Due to the deteriorating security situation and the malfunction of the whole system, the government has adopted a proposal to stop the reception of refugees in the Czech Republic,” Hovanec told a press conference after a cabinet meeting. “This means that the Czech Republic will not accept the relocation of immigrants from Greece and Italy”.

Poland, Hungary and Slovakia refused to accept asylum seekers under the EU agreement.

The European Commission stated that it would decide in June on legal cases against countries that do not accept refugees and other migrants.